Landry likeness to loom large in Irving

Published: Thursday, April 12, 2001

IRVING (AP) - The hat is there, of course, and his arms are crossed. He's wearing a suit and holding a play-calling chart. His lips are squeezed so tight that his cheeks crease at the sides of his mouth.

That's Tom Landry all right, and beginning this fall a remarkably accurate 9-foot-2 likeness of the longtime Dallas Cowboys coach will greet visitors to Texas Stadium.

A 29-inch version of the statue was unveiled Wednesday. Even Tom Landry Jr. was amazed by how perfectly sculptor Robert Summers captured his father's image.

''When you look at somebody you know so well, it's either right or it's not. That's it. That's the look and that's the pose,'' said Landry Jr., himself quite a carbon copy.

Tom Landry was the first and only coach of the Cowboys for 29 years, winning 270 games, third-most in NFL history. His teams reached five Super Bowls, winning two and losing the other three by a total of 11 points.

Landry was fired when Jerry Jones bought the team in February 1989 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame the next year. He died Feb. 12, 2000, following a nearly yearlong bout with leukemia. He was 75.

Despite his humility, Landry was treated to many tributes during his final decade. His son said there's been another overwhelming response since his death.

''I remember when I was growing up and Dad was playing for and then coaching the New York Giants. They played at Yankee Stadium then and I would always see that big statue of Babe Ruth,'' he said. ''I'm not sure Dad was Babe Ruth, but it's a similar tribute.''

Jones and Landry repaired their relationship by 1993, when Landry accepted Jones' invitation to join the team's Ring of Honor. He's often said Landry ''is the single-most important figure in Dallas Cowboys history.''

''No matter where people come from, if they come to touch and feel the Dallas Cowboys in competition, we want them to be near Coach Landry,'' Jones said. ''With this statue, they can have some semblance of what it was like to be around the man.''

Summers' other works include a statue of Byron Nelson at the TPC Four Seasons Resort Las Colinas, the nearby site of the PGA Tour event named for the golfing great.

''To be able to portray Tom Landry is a real honor,'' Summers said. ''I've done John Wayne, but he was a celluloid hero. This man was a true hero, someone you'd want your kids to grow up to be like.''

The Landry family worked with Summers to get down the details. They provided a fedora hat, a watch and even an old pair of his coaching shoes, which they tracked down through a former Cowboys trainer.

The family and the team provided stacks of pictures and videos. Landry Jr. and his mother, Alicia, also made several trips to Summers' workshop about an hour away in Glen Rose to help touch up the features on a work that's about 33 percent larger than its 6-foot-1 subject.

Summers said he should be done in about two months, then a foundry will spend about 10 weeks producing the final product.

An exact unveiling date has yet to be announced, but it will be during the upcoming season.

The Cowboys honored Landry's memory last season by wearing a fedora patch on their uniforms. Game tickets also featured different images of Landry through the years.

A framed Emmitt Smith jersey with the fedora patch and another frame with the patch and a full set of tickets were presented to Landry Jr. at Wednesday's ceremony.

When the Cowboys began in 1960, they played at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. They moved to Texas Stadium in Irving in October 1971 and won their first Super Bowl that season.

But a football game wasn't the first event at the stadium known for the hole in its roof. It was a Billy Graham Crusade, organized by Landry.

Landry seldom returned to the stadium after he was fired, although he did make two special visits: For a farewell celebration a few weeks after his firing and for his Ring of Honor induction in November 1993.

''Coach Landry will always be a Dallas Cowboy,'' Landry Jr. said, ''and Texas Stadium will always be his home.''